Communication terminal accommodation apparatus and scheduling method

ABSTRACT

A DL resource control section  203  controls the status of communication resource assignment of a direct link type network. An MS resource control section  204  controls the status of communication resource assignment of a master-slave type network. When carrying out communications between terminal apparatus held in different networks, a transmission resource assigning section  205  refers to the status of communication resource assignment of the two networks controlled by the DL resource control section  203  and the MS resource control section  204  and assigns the same communication resources to both terminal apparatus of a transmitting side and a receiving side. Thus, the communication resources can be utilized effectively when carrying out communications between the terminal apparatus held in different networks respectively.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a communication terminal holdingapparatus and a scheduling method which are applied to a wirecommunication system or a mobile communication system, and moreparticularly, to a communication terminal holding apparatus and ascheduling method which are applicable to a plurality of networks havingdifferent structures from each other.

BACKGROUND ART

In multimedia interface for which the needs has been sharply increasedrecently, under various user circumstances such as in public, office,home and the like, a high speed and large volume data transmission isdesired. As one of multimedia interfaces which provide such high speedand large volume data transmission, a high speed wireless accessnetwork, a high speed radio access network or the like are getting thefocus of public interest.

As an example of typical structure of such networks, a master-slave typenetwork and a direct link type network are given. In the master-slavetype network, by means of a central control via a communication terminalholding apparatus, a plurality of terminal apparatuses carry outcommunication with the communication terminal holding apparatus. On theother hand, in the direct link type network, by means of a centralcontrol via a communication terminal holding apparatus, which has thecontrol right, in one or more communication terminal holdingapparatuses, a plurality of terminal apparatuses and anothercommunication terminal holding apparatus carry out each communication.

A master-slave type network shown in FIG. 1 comprises a communicationterminal holding apparatus 11 having access point (AP) facility, whichis equivalent to a base station apparatus in a mobile communicationsystem, and MT device apparatus 12, 13 and 14 having mobile terminal(MT) facility respectively, which is equivalent to mobile stationapparatus such as a portable telephone apparatus or the like. In themaster-slave type network, the communication terminal holding apparatus11 carries out a scheduling thereby communication resources such as timearea and frequency or the like are assigned, and communication betweenthe MT device apparatus is always carried out via the communicationterminal holding apparatus 11.

A direct link type network shown in FIG. 2 comprises CC/WT deviceapparatuses 21 and 22 which have a central controller (CC) facility anda wireless terminal (WT) facility, and WT device apparatuses 23 and 24which have a WT facility only, and communications are performed betweenthe WT device apparatuses directly. In this case, the control right istransferred between the CC/WT device apparatuses 21 and 22, which have aCC facility respectively, and the apparatus having the control rightcarries out the scheduling.

Accompanying the expansion of application field of the network, arequest to put to use such a network that a master-slave type network anda direct link type network are integrated with each other. Now, such anetwork that has a communication terminal holding apparatus 31 providedwith CC/WT/AP facilities, which is capable of including both of MTdevice apparatus of a master-slave type network and WT device apparatusof a direct link type network as shown in FIG. 3, will be considered.

To carry out a high speed and large volume data transmission by means ofa multimedia radio communication system, it is essential to carry outscheduling effectively on a limited communication resources and variousscheduling methods have been proposed. For example, a method isdisclosed in a Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.11-243578, in which, for a purpose of reducing the controlling load of abase station and making the buffer size smaller even when the number ofterminal apparatuses is increased, terminal apparatuses are divided intogroups when including the terminal apparatuses and assignment ofcommunication resources is carried out in each group.

In a conventional communication terminal holding apparatus 31 also in anetwork shown in the foregoing FIG. 3, the scheduling is carried out soas to prevent any competition or collision of the communicationresources from occurring when carrying out communications between a WTdevice apparatus and an MT device apparatus. Now, referring to a timingsheet in FIG. 4, an operation of scheduling in a conventionalcommunication terminal holding apparatus 31 will be described whiletaking an example of a case where a communication request is made fromthe WT device apparatus 24 to the MT device apparatus 14. In FIG. 4, thedescription will be made as to the case where the communicationresources are divided on the basis of time region.

First of all, the communication terminal holding apparatus 31 carriesout a scheduling to assign communication resources Ta-b of a period oftime from a to b, which is presently not used in a direct link typenetwork, and makes a notice of control information 41, which instructsto transmit data by means of a communication resources Ta-b, to the WTdevice apparatus 24. Then, the WT device apparatus 24 transmits the data42 by means of the communication resources Ta-b, and the communicationterminal holding apparatus 31 receives the data.

Then, the communication terminal holding apparatus 31 carries out ascheduling to assign communication resources Tc-d of a period of timefrom c to d, which is presently not used in the master-slave typenetwork, and makes a notice of control information 43, which instructsto receive the data by means of the communication resources Tc-d, to theMT device apparatus 14. Then, the communication terminal holdingapparatus 31 transmits the data 42 by means of the communicationresources Tc-d, and the MT device apparatus 14 receives the data.

As described above, the conventional communication terminal holdingapparatus carries out the scheduling on each network to prevent anycompetition or collision of the communication resources from occurring,once the transmitted data is received from a transmitting side terminalapparatus by means of a certain communication resources by its ownapparatus and transmits the data to a receiving side terminal apparatusby means of other communication resources.

However, in the scheduling method of the conventional communicationterminal holding apparatus, when carrying out communications between theterminal apparatuses which are held in different networks respectively,since communication resources of different periods of time fortransmission and for reception are assigned respectively, such a problemthat a high speed and large volume data transmission is prevented frombeing realized resides in. For example, in a case of the foregoing FIG.4, in order to transmit the data 42 from the WT device apparatus 24 tothe MT device apparatus 14, two periods of communication resources Ta-band communication resources Tc-d are required.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a communicationterminal holding apparatus and a scheduling method which are capable ofutilizing communication resources effectively when carrying outcommunication between terminal apparatus held in different networks fromeach other, in which a master-slave type network and a direct link typenetwork are integrated.

It is possible to achieve the object by assigning the same communicationresources for transmission and for reception while referring to theassignment status of the communication resources of each network whencarrying out communication between the terminal apparatus held indifferent networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of themaster-slave type network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the directlink type network;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network inwhich the master-slave type network and the direct link type network areintegrated each other;

FIG. 4 is a timing sheet illustrating a scheduling operation of aconventional communication terminal holding apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a networkincluding a communication terminal holding apparatus according to afirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of acommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a control table held by thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a control table held by thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a timing sheet illustrating a scheduling operation of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a timing sheet illustrating a scheduling operation of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a networkincluding a communication terminal holding apparatus according to asecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of acommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a timing sheet illustrating a scheduling operation of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a timing sheet illustrating a scheduling operation of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of amulti frame;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a networkincluding a communication terminal holding apparatus according to athird embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of acommunication terminal holding apparatus according to the thirdembodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Now, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detailbelow with reference to attached drawings. In the following embodiments,the case, in which communication resources are divided on the basis oftime region, will be described.

First Embodiment

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a networkincluding a communication terminal holding apparatus according to afirst embodiment of the present invention; a master-slave type networkand a direct link type network are integrated with each other in thenetwork.

In FIG. 5, a communication terminal holding apparatus 101 according to afirst embodiment of the present invention is provided with CC/WT/APfacilities, which is capable of including both of a WT device apparatusof the direct link type network and an MT device apparatus of themaster-slave type network. The communication terminal holding apparatus101 constitutes the direct link type network along with WT deviceapparatus 102-104, and constitutes the master-slave type network alongwith MT device apparatus 105 and 106.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 101 according to the firstembodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 5. The communicationterminal holding apparatus 101 is constituted comprising a WTtransmission request processing section 201, an MT transmission requestprocessing section 202, a DL (direct link type network) resource controlsection 203, an MS (master-slave type network) resource control section204, a transmission resource assigning section 205, a DL controlinformation generating section 206, an MS control information generatingsection 207, a DL interface section 208 and an MS interface section 209.

The WT transmission request processing section 201 processes atransmission request signal, which requests to transmit data from a WTdevice apparatus to an MT device apparatus, transmitted from the WTdevice apparatus to output the data to the transmission resourceassigning section 205. The MT transmission request processing section202 processes a transmission request signal, which requests to transmitdata from an MT device apparatus to a WT device apparatus, transmittedfrom the MT device apparatus shown in FIG. 5 to output the data to thetransmission resource assigning section 205.

The DL resource control section 203 controls assignment status ofcommunication resources of the direct link type network on a table, andrenews the control table according to a notice from the transmissionresource assigning section 205. The MS resource control section 204controls assignment status of communication resources of themaster-slave type network on a table and renews the control tableaccording to a notice from the transmission resource assigning section205. The contents of the tables controlled in the DL resource controlsection 203 and the MS resource control section 204 will be describedlater.

When the transmission request signal is input from the WT transmissionrequest processing section 201 or the MT transmission request processingsection 202, the transmission resource assigning section 205 refers tothe tables controlled by the DL resource control section 203 and the MSresource control section 204, assigns communication resourcesappropriate to the communication, and notifies the assignment results tothe DL control information generating section 206 and the MS controlinformation generating section 207. Detailed description of thescheduling operation of the communication terminal holding apparatus 101having the transmission resource assigning section 205 as the centerthereof will be given later.

The DL control information generating section 206 generates, when thenotice from the transmission resource assigning section 205 is received,a piece of control information for scheduling to transmit the controlinformation to the WT device apparatus at the transmitting side or thereceiving side of the data communication via the DL interface section208. The MS control information generating section 207 generates, whenthe notice from the transmission resource assigning section 205 isreceived, a piece of control information for scheduling to transmit thecontrol information to the MT device apparatus at the transmitting sideor the receiving side of the data communication via the MS interfacesection 209.

The DL interface section 208 performs data communications with the WTdevice apparatus 102-104 of the direct link type network. The MSinterface section 209 performs data communications with the MT deviceapparatus 105 and 106 of the master-slave type network.

Next, a description will be made as to the contents of the tables whichare controlled in the DL resource control section 203 and the MSresource control section 204 referring to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. FIG. 7 is adiagram illustrating the content of the table controlled in the DLresource control section 203; FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating thecontent of the table controlled in the MS resource control section 204.

The DL resource control section 203 controls, as shown in FIG. 7, thepresent assignment status of communication resources of the direct linktype network on the table. Likewise, the MS resource control section 204controls, as shown in FIG. 8, the present assignment status ofcommunication resources of the master-slave type network on the table.In FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, Tn-m represents communication resources of aperiod of time from time n to m, and the transmitting side apparatus andthe receiving side apparatus, which are in communication with each otheron the basis of each communication resource, are controlled. Columns ofthe communication resources of the transmitting side apparatus and thereceiving side apparatus, which are presently not used forcommunication, are indicated as “NOT USED”. Also, “BC” in FIG. 7 andFIG. 8 represents broadcast.

The transmission resource assigning section 205 refers to the tables,when carrying out communications between the terminal apparatus held inthe different networks, controlled in the DL resource control section203 and the MS resource control section 204 to assign the samecommunication resources (for example, T0391-0450) which are not used inthe respective networks.

Next, a description will be made as to the scheduling operation of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 101 while taking an example ofthe case where a communication request is made from the WT deviceapparatus 104 to the MT device apparatus 106 referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 8and the timing sheet in FIG. 9.

First of all, a transmission request signal that requests to transmitdata to the MT device apparatus 106 is transmitted from the WT deviceapparatus 104. The WT transmission request processing section 201processes the transmission request signal to output to the transmissionresource assigning section 205.

The transmission resource assigning section 205 refers to the tables,when the transmission request signal is input, shown in FIG. 7 and FIG.8 to carry out a scheduling to assign the communication resourcesT0391-0450, which are presently not used in both networks, ascommunication resources for transmission and for reception. And, thetransmission resource assigning section 205 outputs the assignmentresult, which represents the communication resources T0391-0450, to theDL resource control section 203, the MS resource control section 204,the DL control information generating section 206 and the MS controlinformation generating section 207. The DL resource control section 203and the MS resource control section 204 renew the contents of the tableswhich are controlled basing on the input assignment result.

After that, the DL control information generating section 206 generatescontrol information 501 that instructs a data transmission by means ofthe communication resources T0391-0450 to transmit to the WT deviceapparatus 104 via the DL interface section 208. The MS controlinformation generating section 207 generates control information 502that instructs a data transmission by means of the communicationresources T0391-0450 to transmit to the MT device apparatus 106 via theMS interface section 209.

Then, the WT device apparatus 104 transmits the data 503 by means of thecommunication resources T0391-0450 and the transmitted data 503 isreceived by the MT device apparatus 106 via the DL interface section 208and the MS interface section 209 of the communication terminal holdingapparatus 101.

Provided that the transmission intervals between the control information501 and the control information 502 are spaced within a specified rangeof the network holding, other communications may be established withequal intervals therebetween, or may be followed thereby consecutively.Furthermore, before and after the information communication, althoughcommunications such as band request, communication control or the likemay be carried out, it is permitted provided that these communicationsconform to the protocols of the respective networks.

Next, referring to the timing flow sheet in FIG. 10, a description willbe made as to the scheduling operation of the communication terminalholding apparatus 101 in a case where a communication request is madefrom the MT device apparatus 106 to the WT device apparatus 104.

First of all, when a transmission request signal is input from the MTdevice apparatus 106, the communication terminal holding apparatus 101carries out a scheduling to assign the same communication resources asthe communication resources for transmission and reception within therange of communication resources that are presently not used in bothnetworks. And, the communication terminal holding apparatus 101transmits control information 601 that instructs a data transmission bymeans of the assigned communication resources (for example, T0391-0450)to the MT device apparatus 106, and transmits control information 602that instructs a data reception by means of the assigned communicationresources to the WT device apparatus 104.

The MT device apparatus 106 transmits the data 603 by means of theassigned communication resources, and the transmitted data 603 isreceived by the WT device apparatus 104 via the communication terminalholding apparatus 101. Since being a terminal apparatus within themaster-slave type network, the MT device apparatus 106 transmits thedata to the communication terminal holding apparatus 101. However, thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 101 transmits the received datapromptly without performing any operation with respect thereto;consequently, the communication from the MT device apparatus to the WTdevice apparatus can be established.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, when carrying outcommunication between terminal apparatus held in different networksrespectively, it is enabled to assign a piece of communication resourcesto the communication of one data by referring to the assignment statusof the communication resources of the respective networks and carryingout a scheduling that assigns the same communication resources to thetransmitting side and the receiving side, respectively; thus, it isenabled to utilize the communication resources effectively.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a networkincluding a communication terminal holding apparatus according to asecond embodiment of the present invention, and a master-slave typenetwork and a direct link type network are integrated with each other inthis network.

A point where the second embodiment is different from the firstembodiment is that an apparatus of a communication terminal holdingapparatus which makes the CC facility operate (CC/WT), is different froman apparatus of a communication terminal holding apparatus which makesthe AP facility operate (CC/WT), and that the communication terminalholding apparatus of the WT/AP according to the second embodimentcooperates with the scheduling carried out by a communication terminalholding apparatus of the CC/WT which has the same configuration as thatof the conventional apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 11, a communication terminal holding apparatus 701according to the second embodiment of the present invention has WT/APfacilities, which are capable of holding an MT device apparatus of themaster-slave type network. Also, the communication terminal holdingapparatus 702 has CC/WT facilities, which are capable of holding a WTdevice apparatus of the direct link type network. The communicationterminal holding apparatus 701 constitutes the direct link type networkalong with the communication terminal holding apparatus 702 and WTdevice apparatus 703 and 704 and constitutes the master-slave typenetwork along with MT device apparatus 705 and 706.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of acommunication terminal holding apparatus 701 according to the first(second) embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 11. In thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 701 shown in FIG. 12, thecomponents that are the same as those of the communication terminalholding apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 6 are given with the same referencenumerals in FIG. 6 and the descriptions thereof will be omitted.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 701 shown in FIG. 12 isdifferent, compared with the communication terminal holding apparatus101 shown in FIG. 6, in the operation of the transmissionresource-assigning section 801 from that of the transmission resourceassigning section 205. Also, the communication terminal holdingapparatus 701 shown in FIG. 12 adopts the constitution such that,compared with the communication terminal holding apparatus 101 shown inFIG. 6, the WT transmission request processing section 201, the DLresource control section 203 and the DL control information generatingsection 206 are eliminated; and a DL control information processingsection 802 is added thereto. Further, in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 702 controls the assignmentstatus of communication resources of the direct link type network on thetable, and performs the scheduling.

Now, a description will be made as to the operation of the communicationterminal holding apparatus 701 of the case where a communication requestis made from the WT device apparatus 704 to the MT device apparatus 706.

In this case, first of all, a transmission request signal that requeststo transmit data to the MT device apparatus 706 is transmitted from theWT device apparatus 704. Then, the communication terminal holdingapparatus 702, which has received the transmission request signal,transmits a piece of control information that requests information ofassignable communication resources of the master-slave type network tothe communication terminal holding apparatus 701. The controlinformation is received by the DL interface section 208 and is input tothe transmission resource assigning section 801 via the DL controlinformation processing section 802.

The transmission resource assigning section 801 refers to the tablecontrolled by the MS resource control section 204, and outputscommunication resources, which are appropriate to the communication, tothe DL control information processing section 802. The DL controlinformation processing section 802 generates a piece of informationwhich indicates communication resources appropriate to the communicationof the master-slave type network to output to the communication terminalholding apparatus 702 via the DL interface section 208.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 702 refers to theinformation received from the DL control information processing section802 and the present status of communication resources of the direct linktype network, and carries out a scheduling to assign the communicationresources for transmission. For example, as shown in foregoing FIG. 8,assuming that the communication resources of the master-slave typenetwork, which are presently not used, are T0391-2000, and as shown inforegoing FIG. 7, the communication resources of the direct link typenetwork, which are presently not used, are T0001-1000 and T1351-2000,the communication terminal holding apparatus 702 assigns thecommunication resources within a range of T0391-1000 and T1351-2000,which are not used by both two networks.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 701 cooperates with thescheduling performed by the communication terminal holding apparatus702. FIG. 13 is a timing sheet illustrating a scheduling operationperformed by the communication terminal holding apparatus 701 and 702 ina case where a communication request is made from the WT deviceapparatus 704 to the MT device apparatus 706.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 702 generates a piece ofcontrol information 901 that instructs data transmission by means of theassigned communication resources (for example, T0391-0450) to transmitto the WT device apparatus 704 and the communication terminal holdingapparatus 701. In the communication terminal holding apparatus 701, thecontrol information 901 is received by the DL interface section 208 andinput to the MS control information generating section 207 via the DLcontrol information processing section 802.

The MS control information generating section 207 generates a piece ofcontrol information 902 that instructs a data reception by means of thesame communication resources as the communication resources fortransmission to transmit to the MT device apparatus 706 via the MSinterface section 209.

The WT device apparatus 704 transmits data 903 by means of thecommunication resources instructed by the control information, and thetransmitted data 903 is received by the MT device apparatus 706 via theDL interface section 208 and the MS interface section 209 of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 701.

Provided that the transmission intervals between the control information901 and the control information 902 are spaced within a specified rangeof the network holding, other communications may be established withequal intervals therebetween, or may be followed thereby consecutively.Furthermore, before and after the information communication, althoughcommunications such as band request, communication control or the likemay be carried out, it is permitted provided that these communicationsconform to the protocols of the respective networks.

Next, a description will be made as to the operation of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 701 of the case where acommunication request is made from the MT device apparatus 706 to the WTdevice apparatus 704.

In this case, the MT transmission request processing section 202processes the transmission request signal transmitted from the MT deviceapparatus 706 to output to the transmission resource assigning section801.

The transmission resource assigning section 801 refers to the tablecontrolled by the MS resource control section 204 and outputs thecommunication resources appropriate to the communication to the DLcontrol information processing section 802. The DL control informationprocessing section 802 generates a piece of information that indicatesthe communication resources appropriate to the communication of themaster-slave type network to output to the communication terminalholding apparatus 702 via the DL interface section 208.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 702 refers to theinformation received from the DL control information processing section802 and the present status of communication resources of the direct linktype network, and carries out a scheduling to assign communicationresources for reception.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 701 cooperates with thescheduling performed by the communication terminal holding apparatus702. FIG. 14 is a timing sheet illustrating the scheduling operationperformed by the communication terminal holding apparatus 701 and 702 ofthe case where a communication request is made from the MT deviceapparatus 706 to the WT device apparatus 704.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 702 generates a piece ofcontrol information 1001 that instructs a data reception by means of theassigned communication resources (for example, T0391-0450) to transmitto the WT device apparatus 704 and to the communication terminal holdingapparatus 701. In the communication terminal holding apparatus 701, thecontrol information 1001 is received by the DL interface section 208 toinput to the MS control information generating section 207 via the DLcontrol information processing section 802.

The MS control information generating section 207 generates a piece ofcontrol information 1002 that instructs a data transmission by means ofthe same communication resources as the communication resources forreception to transmit to the MT device apparatus 706 via the MSinterface section 209.

The MT device apparatus 706 transmits data 1003 by means of thecommunication resources instructed by the control information, and thetransmitted data 1003 is received by the WT device apparatus 704 via theMS interface section 209 and the DL interface section 208 of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 701. Since being a terminalapparatus within the master-slave type network, the MT device apparatus706 transmits the data to the communication terminal holding apparatus701. However, the communication terminal holding apparatus 701 transmitsthe received data promptly without performing any operation with respectto the data; consequently, it is enabled to establish the communicationfrom the MT device apparatus to the WT device apparatus.

Provided that the transmission intervals between the control information901 and the control information 902 are spaced within a specified rangeof the network holding, other communications may be established withequal intervals therebetween, or may be followed thereby consecutively.Furthermore, before and after the information communication, althoughcommunications such as band request, communication control or the likemay be carried out, it is permitted provided that communications conformto the protocols of the respective networks.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, when carryingout communications between the terminal apparatus held in differentnetworks, it is enabled to assign a piece of communication resources toa communication of one data by carrying out the scheduling while acommunication terminal holding apparatus having the AP facilitycooperates with a communication terminal holding apparatus having the CCfacility; thus, it is enabled to utilize the communication resourceseffectively.

Third Embodiment

A plurality of types are provided for radio network, and some of themare capable of integrating with each other as the foregoing first andsecond embodiments. For example, although HiSWAN and HiperLAN havedifferent network structures respectively, since the channel layoutthereof almost coincides each other, it is possible to carry outcommunications between the terminal apparatus held in different networksby means of the same communication resources. Generally, the networkstructure of the HiSWAN is the master-slave type and the networkstructure of the HiperLAN is the master-slave type or the direct linktype.

On the other hand, some of the protocols for the radio network are notcapable of integrating so easily even when the present invention isapplied to. For example, since IEEE802.11 and HiperLAN have a quitedifferent channel layout respectively, it is impossible to carry outcommunications between the terminal apparatus held in networks havingdifferent protocol respectively by means of the same communicationresources. In such a case, a plurality of communication frames as shownin FIG. 15 are prepared (in FIG. 15, the case where two communicationframes of 1101 and 1102 are prepared is shown), it is adapted so as tomake the information of the protocols, which are not capable ofintegrating with each other by means of the respective communicationframes, be transmitted, and to carry out the scheduling so as not totransmit information by means of any other communication frames duringthe period of time when a piece of information is transmitted by meansof a communication frame. In FIG. 15, the case, in which a scheduling iscarried out so as to make the communication frame 1101 transmit a pieceof information of the IEEE802.11 and to make the communication frame1102 transmit information of the HiperLAN or the HiSWAN; and thetransmitting communication frame is changed over every 2 ms, as shown.

A plurality of communication frames prepared for transmittinginformation between these protocols, which are not capable ofintegrating with each other, is called as “multi frame”. In a thirdembodiment, a description will be made as to a communication terminalholding apparatus and a scheduling method thereof in a network of themulti frame.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a networkincluding a communication terminal holding apparatus according to thethird embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 16, a first network1201 is a network in which the master-slave type network and the directlink type network are integrated with each other as shown by theforegoing embodiment 1. A second network 1202 is a network of a protocolwhich is not capable of integrating with the first network 1201. Forexample, the first network 1201 is a network in which a HiperLAN and aHiSWAN are integrated with each other; the second network 1202 is anetwork of an IEEE802.11. A multi frame scheduler 1203 performsassignment of communication resources between the first network 1201 andthe second network 1202.

The first network 1201 is different, compared with the network shown inFIG. 5, only in the internal configuration of the communication terminalholding apparatus 1211 according to the third embodiment from that ofthe communication terminal holding apparatus 101. FIG. 17 is a blockdiagram illustrating a configuration of the communication terminalholding apparatus 1211. In the communication terminal holding apparatus1211 shown in FIG. 17, components, which are the same as those of thecommunication terminal holding apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 6, will begiven with the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6, and thedescription thereof will be omitted.

The communication terminal holding apparatus 1211 shown in FIG. 17 isdifferent, compared with the communication terminal holding apparatus101 shown in FIG. 6, in the operation of the communication resourceassigning section 1301 from that of the transmission resource assigningsection 205. Also, the communication terminal holding apparatus 1211shown in FIG. 17 adopts the constitution in which an MF (multi frame)control information processing section 1302 and an MF interface section1303 are added to the communication terminal holding apparatus 101 shownin FIG. 6.

The MF control information processing section 1302 receives a piece ofinformation that indicates communication resources, which are assignedto the first network 1201 by the multi frame scheduler 1203, via the MFinterface section 1303 to output to the communication resource assigningsection 1301.

The communication resource assigning section 1301 refers to theinformation input from the MF control information processing section1302, and carries out a scheduling within a range of the communicationresources assigned to the first network 1201.

For example, when a communication request between the terminal apparatusheld in different networks of the first network 1201 is made, thecommunication resource assigning section 1301, in the same manner as thefirst embodiment, refers to the tables controlled by the DL resourcecontrol section 203 and the MS resource control section 204, and carriesout the scheduling to assign the communication resources appropriate tothe communication within the communication resources assigned to thefirst network 1201.

Also, when a communication request is made to a terminal apparatus heldin the second network 1202 from a terminal apparatus held in the firstnetwork 1201, a scheduling to assign the communication resources, whichis presently not used, as the communication resources for transmissionwithin the communication resources assigned to the first network 1201,is performed to notice to the MF control information processing section1302. The MF control information processing section 1302 generates,receiving the notice from the communication resource assigning section1302(1301), a piece of control information for scheduling to transmit tothe multi frame scheduler 1203 via the MF interface section 1303.

As described above, by performing scheduling within the communicationresources assigned by the multi frame scheduler, it is enabled to applythe present invention to a multi frame network structure.

Even between the protocols such as the HiperLAN and the IEEE802.11 thatare not capable of integrating each other at the point of time thepresent invention was made, in the future, such a case is conceivablethat an extension may be made in an upper layer for an extension ofmessage or an interconnection to reduce problems due to the layout ofthe channels and it may be enabled to carry out communications via thesame communication resources in a partial or the entire communicationperiod. In such a case, it is enabled to apply the method described inthe present invention to the communication between these protocols.

As demonstrated in the foregoing descriptions, according to the presentinvention, by referring to the assignment status of the communicationresources of each network, it is enabled to carry out the scheduling toassign the same communication resources to the transmitting side and thereceiving side; thus it is enabled to utilize the communicationresources effectively.

This application is based on the Japanese Patent Application No.2000-261951 filed on Aug. 30, 2000, entire content of which is expresslyincorporated by reference herein.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention is suitably applicable to a wire communicationsystem and a mobile communication system comprising a plurality ofnetworks having structures different from each other.

1. A communication terminal holding apparatus used in a first networkthat transmits and receives information with a second network adopting adifferent channel structure by using a plurality of types ofcommunication frames between which a time period to transmit theinformation varies, the communication terminal holding apparatuscomprising: an information processing section that acquirescommunication resource information indicating a communication resourcein a first communication frame assigned to the first network; and acommunication resource assigning section that, when a communicationrequest is issued from a terminal apparatus held in the first network,with reference to the communication resource information, assigns anunused communication resource in the first communication frame to theterminal apparatus having sent the communication request, wherein: whena communication request is issued between terminal apparatuses held indifferent networks in the first network, the resource assigning sectionassigns, to both the terminal apparatus on the transmitting side and theterminal apparatus on the receiving side, the same communicationresource that is unused in the network holding the terminal apparatus onthe transmitting side and the network holding the terminal apparatus onthe receiving side, and, when a communication request is issued from aterminal apparatus held in the first network to a terminal apparatusheld in the second network, assigns an unused communication resource tothe terminal held in the first network, and the first network includes amaster-slave type network or a network integrating a master-slave typenetwork and a direct link type network, and the second network cannotintegrate with the first network.
 2. The communication terminal holdingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein, based on the communicationresource information, the communication resource assigning sectionassigns a communication resource, which provides a time period to allowa terminal held in the second network to perform communication and whichis unused in the first communication frame, to the terminal apparatushaving sent the communication request, among communication resources ina second communication frame assigned to the second network.
 3. Thecommunication terminal holding apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe second network includes an IEEE 802.11-based network.
 4. Ascheduling method of a communication terminal holding apparatus used ina first network that transmits and receives information with a secondnetwork adopting a different channel structure, by using a plurality oftypes of communication frames between which a time period to transmitthe information varies, the method comprising the steps of: acquiringcommunication resource information indicating a communication resourcein a first communication frame assigned to the first network; when acommunication request is issued from a terminal apparatus held in thefirst network, with reference to the communication resource information,assigning an unused communication resource in the first communicationframe to the terminal apparatus having sent the communication request;when a communication request is issued between terminal apparatuses heldin different networks in the first network, assigning, to both theterminal apparatus on the transmitting side and the terminal apparatuson the receiving side, the same communication resource that is unused inthe network holding the terminal apparatus on the transmitting side andthe network holding the terminal apparatus on the receiving side; andwhen a communication request is issued from a terminal apparatus held inthe first network to a terminal apparatus held in the second networkassigning an unused communication resource to the terminal held in thefirst network, wherein the first network includes a master-slave typenetwork or a network integrating a master-slave type network and adirect link type network and the second network cannot integrate withthe first network.
 5. The scheduling method according to claim 4,further comprising, based on the communication resource information,assigning a communication resource, which provides a time period toallow a terminal held in the second network to perform communication andwhich is unused in the first communication frame, to the terminalapparatus having sent the communication request, among communicationresources in a second communication frame assigned to the secondnetwork.
 6. The scheduling method according to claim 4, wherein thesecond network includes an IEEE 802.11-based network.